Puppies grow thanks to the creation and maturation of many tissue types. The different kinds of tissues do not all grow at the same time or the same rate, which explains why the dietary needs of puppies change with respect to the amount and content of the food.
Physical development can be compared to a factory. Factory construction starts with a plan (the nervous system), then machines (the skeleton) are put into place. To make the machines work, workers (muscles) are needed, and the workers will demand benefits (fat).
While this image is too simplistic, since these stages naturally occur both gradually and simultaneously, it does emphasize the risks inherent in each stage of a puppy's growth and illustrates:- why there is an insufficient energy reserve when the puppy is born. Fat is not deposited until late in development, although it is the main form of energy storage. The puppy has no energy source to turn to except its small glycogen reserves (in the liver and muscles), which meet its needs for about a dozen hours after birth. It is therefore highly dependent on external temperature conditions until the appearance of the shivering reflex (after the sixth day of life), the deposit of adipose tissue (at the end of the third week) and the development of temperature-control mechanisms.- variations in dietary requirements from one breed to another, and from one phase of life to another in the same individual. Body composition changes throughout the growth period: the water and protein contents decrease, and the proportion of fats and minerals increases.- obesity, which affects small breeds much earlier than large breeds.
Most breed clubs have charts available showing average growth for males and females. Such charts allow the owner to keep an eye on the dog's weight from puppyhood through adulthood. Depending on the breed and sex, a puppy's weight can vary from seventy to seven hundred grams at birth. After a physiological loss of weight on the first day, which should not exceed ten percent, puppies normally grow very rapidly, gaining from five to ten percent per day during the first weeks. Weighing the puppies daily, always at the same time, will allow the owner to monitor their growth. Large-breed puppies, which can weigh one hundred times more as adults than as puppies, should be watched especially carefully.
In general, a puppy that fails to gain weight for two consecutive days should be carefully watched. The cause of any slowdown in growth should be sought. If the entire litter is affected, the mother may be the cause (insufficient or toxic milk), or there may be individual factors (hare lip, competition for food, etc.) if only one or a few puppies are affected.
The owner should also regularly listen to the puppies'cries, watch them nurse, observe the mother's behavior, evaluate the puppies'vitality, take the rectal temperature and check hydration during this period, when morbidity and death can appear very quickly.
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